Did you know that 12v DC CFL lighting can be used as a viable light source in the Home? …or just about anywhere for that matter.
If you are keen on ‘Green Power’, it is possible (for anyone with some fairly basic D.I.Y electrical skills and knowledge) to make and install a 12 volt DC supplemental power system for CFL and ‘new breed’ CCFL (cold cathode) lighting. A simple 12V DC lighting system can provide a trouble free lighting source for your home and / or other DC powered projects for many, many years. One of the easist ways to tap into some free energy for your 12v lighting is to install Solar Photovoltaic Cells or ‘PV’ cells. It is thought that an average PV panel will last around 20-30 years! Your ‘PV / 12v lighting system’ can grow and be expanded and added to as and when your funds and / or time allow.
12V DC 3W, 7W CCFL lamps
Yes, you may be able to install a simple 12 volt power system based on either a wind turbine or solar PV panels (or both). However, you may need to check with your local council authority before proceeding as you may require planning consent to erect a wind turbine or attach PV panels to your home. Even a fairly small system could cover your regular home lighting requirements completely! This WILL save you real cash on your domestic overheads every year! Sometimes it is possible to attach PV panel(s) to a garden shed or other outbuilding where a good level of sunshine can gain unrestricted access.
Three 12V BP Solar PV Panels regularly produce 16 amps in good strong sun
There are a variety of reasons why a typical residential property owner may want to install a ’small scale’ PV or Wind powered home electrical system… Common reasons are normally a desire to reduce ones electrical bills or to have a back-up system to cover ones home in the event the regular power supply fails. Other reasons may include a desire to help reduce one’s greenhouse gas emissions and or the impact of energy use on the environment. Of course, there are many users who install a small scale 12v DC Solar PV system for a remote location such as with farming for use in barns or outbuildings. New ‘low energy’ 12v CFL and CC CFL (cold cathode) compact fluorescent lamps can provide very powerful lighting for all manner of projects. This factor is making the viability of small scale PV installations more attractive. Where once, regular 12v automotive (incandescent) lamps would have had to be used (either consuming too much power or giving poor light), new high-tec compact fluorescent and cold cathode lamps can now give the same or better lighting results and economy as equivalent low energy 240v ac cousins.
Use the Sun's Free power to charge your 12v tools and equipment
One can use their solar generated power supply to charge all manner of 12v equipment. Take a look at some of the regular items we use in the image (right). You can also see the 30A BP charge regulator (which is showing a charge rate of 4.2 amps on an average (UK) October afternoon. List includes: 4 mobile phones, 2 powerful professional HID torches (one 10W and one 25W), a quality electric razor, a set of long range 2 way radio’s, charging for 7.5v NiCad packs (radio controlled cars, etc), and charging for a Sony PSP! This one thing will save good money each and every year! No energy wasting ’Wall Warts’ in use here.
Large outdoor lighting unit with three 12v 3W CCFL compact fluorescent lamps
I can report that even a simple 12v DC system powered either by a small wind turbine or PV panels can provide a very real and useful power source for the home, workshop or virtually any area that requires ‘no strings attached’ power.
We know this because we have used and are still very much using a simple 250W PV system based on 3 BP 85w panels. This brilliant little system has been running without fault or failure for around 4 years and can meet most of our requirement almost year round. Not bad for a rather gloomy (at times) UK. Circuits in common use include various outdoor security lights (running dusk till dawn, see image of large outdoor triple lamp unit), covering 4 main areas of illumination. Low wattage CFL 12v fluorescent lamps as well as single chip LED lamps are used. The entire premises are wired using radial circuits, individually protected via suitably rated ‘CB’s. Each circuit terminates with a three pin (round pin) modern switched socket.
Dedicated 'Round Pin' socket for DC use
Power at each location is supplied using regular ‘ring main’ twin and earth cabling 2.5mm. Loading not to exceed 8 amps in each case. These circuits can be used for virtually anything from lighting such as ’standard lamps’, side lamps and table lamps, LCD TV systems, amplification / music systems, for powering / charging a selection of sundry items such as mobile telephone’s, toys, power tools, torches / searchlights, shavers, etc, etc.
This installation uses a 30 amp ‘BP’ solar regulator unit (with comprehensive digital LCD display), a domestic Legrand breaker box / consumer unit fitted with a selection of low amperage breakers (typically 6amp) and an ex salvage battery set totalling 2000Ah (5 banks of 400Ah 2v cells) which is protected by a main service fuse (acquired as salvage from a specialist breakers yard).
5 X 400ah hour Lead Acid Battery sets make a 2000 amp hour power store. Each 12v set consists of six 2v cells.
The system voltage is 12v and is able to distribute power over cable runs exceeding 50ft without appreciable losses using 2.5mm (twin & earth) cable as outlined above. Outdoor cables are of course ‘armour grade’ waterproof / weather proof and the whole system is earthed with it’s own copper ground rod (including the roof mounted PV panels).
During the dullest, darkest months of the year, (Nov to Feb) a 30amp battery charger is used every couple of weeks to supplement the potential shortfall from the PV system. The amount of hours this is employed depends on loadings and available sunlight during this period.
We prefer to utilise the power ‘as it comes’ to power an amazing array of 12V DC equipment and lighting. This avoids the extra losses (and cost) associated with using an inverter to create 240V AC power. Of course many users prefer to operate an inverter and this is of course, always an option. However, serious consideration must be given to how the 240V AC power will be safely used and distributed around the property.
I have to stress that one must be confident in and have some knowledge of basic electrical circuits before deciding to undertake such a project. Any 12DC installation using Lead acid batteries must be undertaken carefully to ensure safety at every stage.
It is important not to overload any circuit / switch employed. When adapting regular domestic AC switch gear, etc, it is important to note that no guide lines are supplied regarding recommended DC current loadings when using equipment normally associated with AC circuits. A 12V DC device rated at 100w will present a load 20 times higher than the equivalent AC 100w circuit. E.g: 100w @ 12V DC = 8.3 amps whereas 100w @ 240v AC will equal just 0.42 amps.
With the advent of special 12V DC, high efficiency Compact Fluorescent lighting from OnSolar.co.uk, it is possible to install powerful lighting almost anywhere!
12V DC CFL Lighting
One of the most gratifying things a horse owner can do is to install a simple 12v lighting system into the stable block allow maintenance routines to be carried out throughout the year in complete safety. It is amazing the difference a couple of well placed low energy fluorescent lamps can make. Even a small 12v 7 Watt cold cathode compact fluorescent lamp will provide illumination similar to a regular 40 watt incandescent lamp, so as you can see, this is going to be Very useful light!
For some horse and pony owners, it can be a little disconcerting to be working perhaps a mile of more from the nearest homestead and perhaps in failing light conditions. Usually, one will of course have a reliable torch to help guide the way. However, wouldn’t it be a lot better if the areas you need to work in were brightly lit? Of course it would, but How? Take a look at the diagram below.
It is relatively easy for anyone to install a simple lighting circuit but we would also like to point out that this should not be undertaken as a spur of the moment project; one should make sure that all components are fit for purpose, safe and that suitably rated fuse is installed to protect against short circuits. It is also prudent to ensure any cabling is installed so that animals cannot gain access to it. Depending on how you feel about it, you may also wish to install a simple Car radio to provide a little company for yourself and your animal(s). You can then tune into some tasteful music whilst your are grooming your horse for example.
As the diagram below illustrates, for installations requiring long cable runs, there may be a slight voltage drop as power reaches the final or last lamp in a chain but providing quality cabling is used and the length is not too long, there should not be any problems.
Unless using multiple cable runs, one should not exceed the recommended maximum amperage for the chosen cabling. A 7 watt CCFL lamp can be considered as using around .6 of an amp so using four will equal around 2.5 amps which will be just fine for an average application with up to around 20 meters of distributing cabling. Regular domestic 2.5mm ‘twin & earth’ from a local DIY store will be just fine. However, one may need to consider damage from rodents and of course be sure to install a simple car style blade fuse of say 5 amps (in the example here).If at all possible, it is of benefit to install a modest solar PV panel of around 40 watts or more to keep your battery in good health and to ensure power is available at all times. Of course, if you were planning to be a little more extravagant and use more or larger lamps than in the illustration above, one would require a larger PV (photovoltaic panel) of perhaps 80 watts or more; assuming an hour or two an evening using your lighting circuit.
Many things can effect the potential to collect and store electrical current: One may need to consider their site, position, prevailing weather conditions, worst case scenarios such as poor winters (when very little power may be collected form a PV cell), etc.
This is a very important factor when calculating what size of battery to use for your project.
It doesn’t matter if your building a small solar PV system to enable you to have some light in your shed or workshop or designing your first electric car, it is going to be Very valuable to know how to calculate your battery size correctly. So, how can I do this then?
You need to be able to calculate the Watt Hours you intend to use and the power available from your chosen battery pack. To give you an idea I will illustrate this for you…
You are using a 12V Lead Acid or Gel battery pack with a 10 Amp Hour rating. Now then; a fully charged Lead Acid battery (in as new condition) will have a cell voltage of 2.2V. When we multiply this by the number of cells in a 12V battery (which is 6) we calculate that the voltage will be 13.2V. If we take the battery voltage and multiply it by the battery capacity (which in this case is 10Ah), we get the available watt hour or WH potential of 132. To break this down into usable date we can see that a 7 Watt CCFL lamp would last for around 18 hours (132 divide by 7) before the battery was almost completely exhausted. For a larger project, we can calculate as follows: 2000 amp hour 12V battery bank. Fully charges to 13.2V gives a watt hour ‘WH’ rating of 26,400 watts. I have to say, it would be a bit reckless to completely discharge ones battery in whatever application you have in mind so we strongly advise using or drawing power down to around 50% OR doubling the size of your battery to give extra reserve. It is also worth bearing in mind that a regular grade lead acid / gel battery of say 3-5 years of age may well be working at around 50% capacity and may also be less efficient to charge (takes longer and or absorbs less of the charge power).
Ok, so lets look at installing a simple shed lighting installation then. Ok, so we want to use a 12V battery and we need to use a single 11Watt CFL lamp to provide strong illumination. If using the lamps for say 3 hours a day (night), we would use 33 watt hours a day. Over 7 days we would consume over 230 watt hours of available power. The nearest size battery to provide this level of power would probably be around 20 Ah (amp hours), but because we don’t want to end up completely discharging the battery we suggest doubling this to 40Ah. In this case a regular sized Car Battery may suffice. However, using a modest solar PV cell and regulator would ensure the battery was kept in peak condition at all times.
You Want To Know How To Build Your Own Electric Car?
Did you ever think that making an electric car or doing a conversion would be nice but were put off by the price and or possible complexity?
Just plug your electric car in for a few cents or pence each day and start saving!
We are all unhappy about the endless cycle of spending good money every week at the Petrol or Gas station right? Actually, No we are NOT stuck Spoon feeding the big oil companies our hard earnt income every single week!
Oh yeah, just go build an electric car… You’re probably already thinking that this is out of the question right? Possibly you have never even serviced your car let alone considered converting an electric car… Well, the truth is that virtually anyone can tackle a project like this by following a thorough and truly well made guide. Yes, it’s true you would almost certainly be able to convert a regular gasoline powered car to running on electricity just by following a really well made recipe or road map. A steps made by someone who has already successfully converted regular cars into ‘EV’s’ to run on batteries.
Stop using that over priced, air polluting garbage you find yourself having to put into your car every week and think about the simplicity of just hooking up your vehicle to charge at your own home… sounds good don’t it? You really could do a conversion, even if you truly are a novice with little or no knowledge of the workings of automotive engines.
Vehicle owners who have done this are so excited about it they just want to spread the word. Why is this? The reason is because it works, simple as that! The parts and information now available to people like you and I is fantastic!
I think we all know why there is a fair amount of negativity about electric car out there, after all if we all what is nobody wanted that oil anymore!
It’s your life, your time to make a break and do something which will really make you feel very happy.
What is involved then; there must be a massive amount of parts and gizmos involved to do something like this? Not really, take a look below to see the main components. Of course there is more to it and other modifications which will be employed to complete the conversion but all is explained in the instantly downloadable program which I am recommending to you. See the main parts here:
1: An special AC Electric Motor. Your regular petrol / gasoline motor unit is removed (and usually sold on if still good) and is replaced with: A small electric motor – this replaces the complete oil laden motor train.
2: A set of high-tec batteries is installed. This provides the power source which your vehicle will power you on a daily basis.
3: A speed control. This is like an overgrown version of a domestic lighting dimmer switch and provides the vehicles speed control via your regular accelerator pedal.
4: A battery charger. Just like a standard battery charger only bigger! Plug in your homes ac supply to replenish the power you use.
You will learn not only how to do the entire conversion step by step to enable you to build a fabulous electric car of your own but also details of how to source all the parts at really low, bargain prices – this priceless information will really bring a smile to your face. There is an massive amount of money and time saving advice and recommendations to allow you to get your project off the ground and running saving you endless hours of head scratching. Without the proper information, building / making an electric car converting an electric car could be a waste you a lot of money and time nightmare so go get your no risk e-book right now and make your EV dream come true.
How could a 10.2 litre aero engine possibly fit into a tiny little car? Well it’s true, just take a look at the video below to see just how this was achieved.
Not the greenest of projects by an absolute mile but you have to give this fellow 10/10 for truly amazing accomplishment - I would love to have him on my team!
I am happy to report that installing a simple little supplementary 12V wind or solar PV powered 12V DC lighting system in your home, workshop or outbuildings is a whole lot easier and with very much fewer ingredients.
I am always very keen to learn and hopefully understand more about the animals we co-habit our planet with. I an no expert when it comes to matters concerning the culling, capture, murder or otherwise mutilation of wild animals and often find even necessary culling of overpopulated or dangerous animals distasteful. I recently became aware of something that I find deeply disturbing and to be honest, I am having trouble understanding…
If anyone can explain why the slaughter of Pilot whales is actually necessary, I will be keen to attempt to learn. PLEASE DO NOT VIEW the short video below OR the pictures unless you have a strong stomach. It is not my intention publish freakish or unpalatable news items here on the OnSolar blog, please accept my apologies if it is upsetting but I find this lunacy breathtakingly pitiful – it should be stopped.
Like many dolphins and their relatives, the ’Pilot Whale’ (I believe this to be the correct name for these particular animals) has an inquisitive, friendly nature and seems easily duped – not initially afraid of people… Feel free to comment.
I have amended the above information today (20/11/09) as is it was not correct in fact. I have been suitably updated and can inform anyone reading this post that the ‘Dolphins’ are actually whales, Pilot Whales. Much of the information currently in circulation around the ‘web’ regarding this bizarre slaughter is not accurate due to some errors in translation from the original article (which I have to say, I strongly suspected). Many thanks to PhilBee in New Zealand for taking the time to help clarify. You can gain a little more info here.
Below is a short sequence of pictures which illustrates the methods used to dispatch these creatures…
